Of Mirrors and Foxes
by Lord Mendasuit
Summary: Hinata was lonely. She had no friends. Not at school, not within her family and not outside of either of those two settings. She only wished that there was someone who would be with her, who would love her and show it. And that was exactly what she got.


Hinata sighed as she brushed her hair, seated as she was behind a desk with a mounted mirror on it that passed for a makeshift vanity. There wasn't much to brush, but she'd woken up with her hair making a rather convincing impression of a really thick bush that morning, so it was mandatory for her to set it back into its proper place. She had to be, after all, perfectly prim and proper.

She was the Hyuuga Heiress and, as much as it hurt and pained her, looking pretty was all she was good for. She was absolutely terrible at the art of the Hyuuga Clan's Jyuuken. She knew this to be a fact because all of her instructors had remarked on her startling lack of talent. Startling because her mother had been a complete beast in melee, as had been her father. Even her eight year old sister was shaping up to become a fine example of Hyuuga fighting prowess.

Some thought Hanabi a prodigy for beating someone four years her elder in a spar. Hinata would've liked to point out that beating her in a spar where she was restricted to the Hyuuga style alone was hardly an accomplishment. Then she heard herself retort that beating her at all was hardly an achievement worth mentioning.

After painfully smoothing yet another knot, which managed to pull a wince from her, she let out a loud sigh. She didn't know what the hell she was even doing in the ninja academy. What was the point of being a ninja? She'd just get herself and her teammates killed on the field because she was terrible at anything combat related.

She'd excelled at the arts of kunoichi, those required for infiltration, but… her being a Hyuuga practically barred her from infiltration missions entirely, as her eyes were glaringly obviously a Byakugan and she'd be discovered as soon as someone saw her face. Even seduction missions were shot due to the fact that she was so obviously a kunoichi.

Another knot pulled another wince.

The only people who seemed to give a damn about her existence were her caretakers and her father, and the latter was rather cold and distant. Hinata had no delusions about her father's opinion of her, but she still hoped that the man still loved her despite her failures. She tried so hard, worked herself as much as she could, just so she could make him proud, so she could make him smile…

… But it never worked. It was never enough. She was always second best to Hanabi.

Another loud sigh escaped her.

Normally, an attendant would be taking care of her morning refreshing, but Hinata was known amongst the Hyuuga for being one of the kinder members of the Main family. Her attendant for the day, Hyuuga Ko, had to attend the birth of his firstborn today, so she had graciously granted him a free day.

It had been one of the few times her father had approved of her kindness to the branch family as he had very nearly granted the man a free day himself. The Main Family might not have been quite liked in the clan, but the current leader was far from being the culprit of the animosity between branches.

Her caretakers were all quite fond of her and made no mystery of it, though her favorite had always been her chunin bodyguard. Yuuhi Kurenai had been, for a while, Hinata's anchor to the shore whenever she was losing herself to the sea of her own self-loathing. Always having a kind word and an answer to her problems, the moments she spent alone with the chunin had been the best in her life.

It was just too bad that the woman had been promoted to jounin. The price to hire her for a long term C Rank mission, namely being Hinata's bodyguard, had raised dramatically. She still dropped by from time to time, whenever she wasn't busy with a mission, but it wasn't the same. Hinata still cherished each and everyone of her visits, though. After all, the woman had been her psychologist for the last few years.

Shaking her head, Hinata forced a small smile to her face. A sad, pathetic facsimile of the real thing, but a smile nonetheless. Her eyes rolled over her mirror. The ornate mirror mounted on a stand against a desk had made for a makeshift vanity, and although Hiashi would've probably bought her one had she asked for it, she was rather content with what she had.

A mirror that she had found one day while playing on the park with Kurenai (Hinata had never known that Kurenai had gotten away with taking her out to play by claiming she was instructing her in how to see underneath the logic of children's games), none other than in a trash deposit. She'd been enchanted with the thing at first sight.

It might have resembled the rubbish it had been along at first glance, but Hinata's eyes, the wonderful Byakugan she'd been gifted with, had seen right past that. The ornate, blue and orange decorated oval mirror had been cleaned and polished. Once it was spotless, Kurenai gave it to her under the guise of a birthday gift.

After all, no Hyuuga could be seen playing with something she'd found in the trash, but what Hiashi didn't know, wouldn't hurt him. Hinata did not know that her father was well aware of where she'd found the mirror and how she'd made it functional again. Kurenai was very thorough in her job as a bodyguard, after all.

Her smile fell, however, as her eyes met the sad, pathetic pupil-less eyes of her double behind the mirror. That pathetic little thing staring at her was, of course, herself, and it was the only person who she truly shared a world with. Kurenai might have been the closest person to her she had, but Hinata was ultimately aware that the woman had stuck to her because it had been her mission.

Her caretakers might have expressed fondness for her, but they were slaves bound to her every whim as members of the branch family, and she had thus never been able to truly befriend any of them. Even her cousin proved cold and distant when it truly came down to it.

She had no friends in the academy. She herself had been seen as cold and distant due to her rather extreme shyness, which prevented her from actively seeking out people to befriend. Most of them didn't care, and she'd retreated into herself the few times someone had reached out to her.

The girls didn't like her because she didn't share the majority of their interests. Most kunoichi of her class were civilian-born or otherwise clanless and the only other clan heiress she knew, Yamanaka Ino, behaved much like the civilians, so none of them could understand her and she couldn't understand them, either.

The boys, meanwhile, had simply ignored her for the first few years. During the entirety of her last year, however, they'd begun to notice the fact that she had developed earlier than her female classmates. They had begun to notice her as a girl. Having established herself as anti-social, they began to see her as an object to strive for. None of the children truly understood the implications of their words or thoughts.

At some point, she'd just become the unreachable trophy.

It was funny to think that she, the one who would die for a hand extended to her in friendship, had to actively reject people at times. Which, in itself, was horribly difficult. This was the reason Ko hung around her like a vulture and why there was always an academy teacher present. Hiashi could not risk his daughter's crippling self esteem issues ruining the Hyuuga's image.

That and he also had the ulterior motive of not allowing anyone to touch his precious daughter. At least not before he neutered them and became one hundred percent sure of their innocent intentions.

So… Hinata was lonely.

No friends at school, no friends within her family, no friends outside of either.

"I just wish… I just wish that there was someone who wanted to be with me..." she murmured, looking at the ground.

It was a selfish desire, in her mind. She shouldn't force others to like her. But she couldn't help herself. It was her heart's fondest desire. She was, in as few words as it can be possibly put, starved for love and affection.

"I just wish that there was someone who loved me…" she said, looking at her own reflection.

The mirror glinted. There was a flash of light and her head began to pound for a second. She shook it, willing the pain away. Everything became blurry for a few instants, but she could've sworn that the image in the mirror became opaque for a second.

The world was spinning for a second and then suddenly everything became still again.

"In response to your heart's cry, to answer your fondest and most desperate wish and satisfy your desires and wants, I have brought you a vulpine wife from the high heavens!" A rather peppy and cheerful voice rang out across the silent room, and Hinata felt a pair of slender arms circle her neck, as well as something very, very soft and warm pressed against her cheek.

At some point, her brain had stopped to function.

Clearly, she must still be dreaming, because there was no way that this was happening. There was no way that this was happening and she was certain that she had to be high, because her mind couldn't be conjuring such images otherwise.

But then, a weight settled on her lap. Her eyes quickly took in the sight, as her brain tried its hardest to comprehend what was going on. Hair so blonde it was golden, separated into two pigtails by blue ribbons. Deep azure eyes filled with good cheer and the slightest hint of mischief.

She gulped as she began to take in the full face of the girl seated on her lap. She had the cutest little marks on her cheek, as if someone had drawn whiskers on her with a fine marker.

The moment her brain had trouble processing, though, was when her eyes settled on top of her head, where a pair of orange and fluffy fox ears sat proudly, twitching ever so slightly.

Her eyes continued to travel down, taking in the sight of the exquisite and ornate blue kimono that stopped pretending to be a modest garment when she started analyzing it. For starters, the sleeves were completely detached, and nothing covered the girl's shoulders, which almost let Hinata see her chest.

She didn't know HOW the garment stayed on. Maybe the black sash was really tight?

It didn't matter. There was a rather large ribbon around her waist which ended in a large bow that she could see behind the girl's back. And then her brain began to fail to connect the image she was seeing with reality, as a very fluffy and very… let's just say tempting fox tail swayed to and from. Hinata felt an irresistible urge to jump and cuddle herself against it as it moved.

Again, as a complete affront to modesty, the outfit revealed the girl's full legs, which were only covered by her stockings, which ended in rather high platform sandals. It was… an odd sight, really, all in all.

The kimono would've been considered daring and rather inappropriate on a grown woman.

On a girl of Hinata's age and size, it was just outright obscene.

"It's so nice to meet you, my dear master! Please treat your new cute little Naruto-chan well, okay?" she asked, smiling in such a way that had Hinata's heart beating a million times per second.

All she could do in response… was faint from the shock.

* * *

Hinata stirred. She didn't want to wake up. She didn't want to leave that wonderful dream in which there was someone who'd appeared out of nowhere for the sole express purpose of loving her, as she'd wished. But she knew better than to dwell on her impossible dream.

She brought up a hand to her head and tried to quell the headache that flared when she began trying to get up.

"Ack! Please, don't get up yet!" a rather worried and frantic voice spoke from her side. Perhaps she'd been assigned a different attendant for the day, after she'd given Ko a free day. But why would her attendant not want her to wake up?

She'd tried to voice her question, but all that came out of her mouth was a pained gurgle and a groan, so she contented herself by waiting until the headache had subside before she tried to speak again. Just as she tried to relax, however, she felt a warm and soft hand press against her forehead. The warm feeling that the hand gave her was quickly overpowering the throbbing of her headache.

Even the tiredness in her limbs from sleep had suddenly left her body entirely, which left her feeling relaxed and well rested in her bed. She tried to curl up into a ball around her forehead, trying to get the most out of that wonderful feeling spreading from the hand atop it, but it suddenly disappeared.

She whimpered for her loss.

Then her eyes shot open. She blinked once, twice, and then eeped. She'd just displayed clearly undignified behavior in front of a member of the branch house! While she wasn't fond of mistreating them, she still wished to at the very least act like a proper member of the main house, to at least justify her position in their eyes.

She also noticed that someone had used medical techniques to get rid of her early morning problems. This was actually the first time something like this happened. While there were a great many Hyuuga medics, there were few who would use their abilities in something so trivial. So this new attendant definitely had to be young. Young enough not to develop pride in their abilities to the point of refusing to use them for trivialities.

"T-Thank you." Hinata let herself say. While her family seemed to be above thanking the branch family for their service, she was not one to be impolite even to the ones who were her servants.

"Ah, it's no problem, my dear master!"

Hinata blinked again. Then her head whipped to her left. There she was, the same fox-eared girl she had seen before. "… Huh. So it wasn't a dream t-then."

"Ah! I'm so flattered!" The girl said, her cheeks gaining a rosy coloring as she slapped herself to try and regain her composure, obviously. Or maybe she was just exaggerating her fluster. "But no, my dearest husband, our fateful meeting was not a dream at all!"

"Huh." Hinata was feeling kinda numb from sheer shock, so much so that she didn't even question this further. She'd have time to think when her brain rebooted. "Y-You do k-know that I… I'm a g-girl, r-right?" Asked the Hyuuga kunoichi.

The girl eagerly nodded her head. "Of course I do! And while some might have a problem with that, it's no problem for me!" she said, offering her a kind and charming smile. "Whether you're a man or a woman, I will be your ever lovely wife!" Her good cheer was contagious, and Hinata found herself cracking a small smile.

Then, however, she shook her head. "But… This is just so confusing…" she said, looking at the now puzzled foxgirl.

"Hm?" The girl seemed as confused as Hinata herself was. "What don't you understand, dearest?"

"A-Anything!" The Hyuuga quickly said. "B-But… M-Maybe you c-can explain… from the s-start?"

"Um… Okay." The blonde said, shrugging. "You see, when and a man and a woman love each other very much…"

"T-T-THAT'S NOT WHAT I M-MEANT!" Hinata yelled, her face beet red.

"Ah, you're so cute when you're flustered like that!" the fox girl chirped, throwing her arms around Hinata's neck and rubbing her whiskered cheek against Hinata's smooth cheeks, letting out a small contented sound when their cheeks made contact. Hinata found herself unwilling to part from her embrace, but she still forced her arms to push the clingy girl away.

"J-Just e-explain w-where y-you c-came f-from." Hinata tried, her stutter at its worth now that she was incredibly flustered on top of being incredibly nervous.

"Like I told you when you first summoned me, I am your vulpine wife brought from the high heavens! Though… I'm not sure of what you're supposed to do with one of those." She admitted, letting out a goofy smile and scratching the back of her neck. Hinata was sure she'd seen the gesture somewhere, but couldn't quite place it. "Ah… it doesn't matter, I'm sure we'll figure it out along the way!"

"j-Just… E-Explain… please." Hinata ground out. "H-How… D-Did I summon y-you?"

"Ara?" She seemed utterly confusing. "You didn't know you were summoning me?" The girl asked, tilting her head to the side in a gesture so cute that Hinata had to restrain herself right then and there. "Well, I guess I have more things to explain than I thought, then." She said, rubbing her chin and looking pensive for a moment before showing another understanding, kind and charming smile. "You seem, my cute new master, that over there" she gestured at Hinata's mirror "is something called the Yata No Kagami. I have no idea how it ended up in your possession or in the human world at all, but it is a mirror that has the power to grant the wishes of mortals, as well as other functionalities that you shouldn't be concerned about." The foxgirl explained, sitting on her knees in front of Hinata as she gave her explanation, hands folded over her lap.

"A-Ah…" So , that pretty mirror that Hinata had found in the trash just so happened to be a divine artifact with the power to grant wishes? Talk about the single most ridiculous coincidence of all time. "B-But… T-Then, when I s-said I wished…"

"When you were looking at the mirror, you wished for someone who would love you, didn't you?" Hinata could only timidly nod at those words, though she had expected something different from that same loving smile she was already growing fond of. "So then I came! I will be your cute little Naruto-chan, here to serve you and fulfill your every desire and dream, to conform to your every naughty thought and love you for the rest of your life!" She explained, all of this said with such sincerity and good cheer that Hinata was taken aback. "If you wish to ravish me, please, don't be shy. I will be here to satisfy your every need!"

Hinata eeped once again, her more than thorough and complete education giving her a very clear idea of what Naruto had been proposing right then and there. She couldn't even think about those words, lest she die from the shower of blood her nose would surely explode upon. Not to mention, those were undignified thoughts that a Hyuuga should never be caught thinking or even thinking of thinking about.

Of course, she quickly lost the battle against her baser nature and she had to slap herself, harshly, to dispel the thoughts of what Naruto had just confirmed Hinata could do to her with complete consent and permission from her. After all, that was her express purpose in coming here. She gulped down the knot on her throat.

Heck, she couldn't even look at the blonde with her cheerful, innocent smile without thinking naughty thoughts, now! She cursed her overly developed body as she did every time the eyes of boys landed upon it, perhaps even more, because due to its early development she had been facing far more complications than she should right about now.

"What does ravish mean, anyway?" the girl asked, bringing a finger to her lower lip and adopting a quizzical expression.

At the display of sheer innocence and cuteness in the face of her own perversion, Hinata could only begin thinking about herself, dressed in the standard chunin uniform in the academy classroom. Except the door was quickly locked.

"_Ah, teach me, Hinata-sensei! Teach me hard!"_

"Ah? Husband? Master?! Master!"

But all calls to Hinata were impossible, she was already in her happy place. This was discernible from the small trickle of blood that flowed from her nose and the contented smile on her lips.

There was a loud thud, as well, outside the door. Hinata only absent mindedly noted the events that were happening from then on, coming down from a high of perverted delight as she was. She barely noticed Naruto open the door to her bedroom to find Neji passed out on a pool of his own blood, a similarly content smile to her own on his face.

"… I'm so not gonna clean that." Naruto spoke, taking a few steps back and away from the growing pool of blood below Neji.

"What in blazes is going on here?" spoke a rather cold and serious voice. "And who are you?"

Hinata wanted to eep, wanted to jump up and begin explaining before Naruto could put her foot in her mouth, to at least do something about the situation but… By this point she was too far gone into her happy place to even care about the consequences.

"Me? I'm Naruto! Nice to meet you!" The girl chirped, her tail swishing behind her and her pigtails bouncing as she bowed as part of her introduction.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Naruto-san. My name is Hyuuga Hiashi." The man who Hinata recognized as her father said, bowing to her… uh… wife. "Now, if you would please explain to me just what the flying fuck is going on, I'd be most appreciative."

Hinata was just so jealous of her father about how the man could keep his cool and composure in the most ridiculous of situations. And she was also jealous about how he could seamlessly blend colloquial and formal speech to create the definitive Hyuuga speech style that was said to be sophisticated as hell. But she would have to get rid of her stutter first, since it'd sound very dumb coming from her if she stuttered on every other word and if she couldn't pronounce the proper obscenities.

"Ah, sure, I can explain!" Naruto said, grinning at Hiashi.

"Would you wait a second? I'd rather this mess be cleaned before we engage in a proper conversation. And, as I'm sure that she is involved, it would be best to wait until my daughter finds herself in the land of the waking once again before we start our little conversation." The eldest Hyuuga in the room and or hallway spoke, clasping his hands together.

"Sounds good to me." The blonde replied, shrugging.

"Very well, then." The man said, nodding and turning to the empty hallway. "Hizashi, I know you're there. I do believe that Neji-kun just hit puberty and this is your responsibility. I'm not going to give him the talk. I had enough trouble giving it to Hinata the first time around."

At the very least, Hinata had the decency to blush when he mentioned that she had already been given the talk, before her older cousin. She had developed well ahead of her classmates in that regard, at the very least. Just then, her uncle Hizashi appeared out of nowhere. Probably from behind the doorframe. Ninja could hide behind twigs, after all, and Hizashi was a very good ninja. "Hi, Naruto-chan! Hi, Hinata-chan!" the man said, smiling down at the cute little foxgirl and waving at his little niece. "I'm sorry about Neji-kun. He is just getting used to his hormones, and he must have reacted rather extremely to your, ahem, choice of dress."

"Well, can't say I fault the boy for his reaction, here." Hiashi said, looking at the little girl that had provoked Neji's first nosebleed. "Indeed, you will one day grow into a fine woman."

"Hiashi… she has fox ears, doesn't she?" Hizashi asked, rubbing his chin.

"Indeed, she does, brother." The elder twin said, nodding at the younger twin.

"Can I pet you?" Hizashi asked the little girl, who offered him a smile before shaking her head. "Ah? Why?"

"My body is only for my beloved wife!" she spoke, turning around and walking up to the still semi-comatose Hinata, before picking up her body and embracing her to keep her standing. Hinata was beet red at the display in front of her father and uncle.

"Okay, now I absolutely demand an explanation for this." The clan head spoke, crossing his arms. "Hinata… I did not know you were a lesbian."

"Not that there's anything wrong with that." Hizashi remarked. "In fact, I'm in full support of your preferences." He added, giving her a thumbs up.

At that point, the poor girl was despairing too much about the whole situation to really make a very eloquent response. So she went with a simple "Neither did I." Before she realized what she'd said and she passed out.

"Ah! My beloved master! Please, wake up!"

* * *

"And so, when she wished upon the Yata No Kagami, I heard her cry and swooped in to save her from her despair!"

"… I had no idea that you felt like this, Hinata." Hiashi said, looking down at his daughter. At some point, they'd all ended up sitting around a table with a cup of tea for each of them. Turns out that Naruto was great when it came to making tea, though none of them knew what the tea was made with, they didn't care anyway.

"You have to forgive Hiashi, Hinata-chan. He's never been good with relating to people." Hizashi said. "Kinda like Neji-kun here." He added, ruffling his son's hair.

Neji did not let out an undignified grunt or react at all. All he did was glare silently at his father and put his hair back in its proper Hyuuga ponytail. "Regardless of whatever story is behind her appearance, I do believe that we should regularize her."

"Neji-kun is correct." Hiashi stated. "We shall have time to dwell on my absolute incompetence as a parent at a later date. We are Hyuuga and we are strict followers of the law. Therefore, we must regularize our newest guest's situation as soon as possible."

Hinata squirmed in her seat. "Um… W-What do y-you mean b-by r-regularize?" Asked the one shy Hyuuga. Naruto, in a gesture that was not missed by the other occupants of the room, scooted closer to Hinata and tilted her head quizzically as well. It was actually compelling to provide an immediate answer. It helped that they were adorable.

"It's quite simple, really." Hiashi began to explain. "Whenever a shinobi acquires a summoning contract or signs the contract of a summon tribe, they must report said fact to the Hokage."

"In this case, it's a bit more complicated. I assume that there's no summon realm for you to return to, correct?" Neji asked, looking at the foxgirl who just nodded.

"Woah… Neji-kun knows so much already… I'm so proud…" Hizashi said, wiping a stray tear.

Ignoring his father's overly dramatic antics, Neji continued. "We are, to put it the same way Hiashi-sama would, filthy rich, so providing housing and whatever it might be that you need to prolong your existence would not be beyond our means, but in order for you to aid Hinata-sama, you'd need to be registered as her partner. Or as a Shinobi."

Naruto tapped her chin in thought. "It's up to my master. I will be whatever she wants me to be!"

Hinata let out an eep and tried to shrink into her oversized coat. She was not used to being turned into the center of attention like this. Usually, she'd just be quietly on the side. While the attention that she usually didn't get felt actually rather pleasant, it was also embarrassing as hell. "B-But… I-I d-don't want t-to f-force you…" Hinata said, looking at Naruto.

"Nonsense, dearest! Anything you ask of me, I will do! Do you want me to bring you a star from the sky? Do you want me to bring the world to its knees? What is your heart's desire, my beloved? Just ask, my master, and you will have it!" She said, her voice managing to be solemn, calm and absolutely mischievous as she spoke.

Hinata blushed beet red at the rather brazen and shameless declaration that the blonde had just made. Seriously, this girl was going to kill her, her body wouldn't get enough blood, after all, it was all on her face, judging how very red it was. She shook her head, perhaps a tad more harshly than she usually would, and slapped her cheeks a few times.

"If neither of you can decide, perhaps it'd be best if you explained your situation?" Hiashi asked, his tone somewhere between authoritative and amused.

"Though I'm curious how you'd do those things…" Hizashi voiced his brother's unspoken thoughts.

Neji sighed. "What Hiashi-sama intended to ask is what your specialty is. If you intend to aid Hinata-sama in her ninja career, you must have some ability for combat." Explained the branch house prodigy, noticing her clear confusion at his uncle's words.

"Oh. That." Naruto said, nodding. "Well… I'm really, really strong! I'm very good with Fuuinjutsu! I will protect my master to the best of my ability! I guess I haven't really ever been in a fight, but that's beside the point!" She explained, fire in her eyes, determination shining in her statement. "I'm not very good at hand to hand combat, and I know that Kitsune are supposed to be really, really good with illusions but yeah, I'm no good at those either."

Taking a deep breath, Neji activated his Byakugan. He had been curious about the being before him for a while now, and the only true sight is the one provided by the Byakugan. His sight was filled with everything in the room at once, despite the fact that his eyes were closed. His eyelids wouldn't block his eyes.

He gasped. "Well… with that amount of chakra, it doesn't surprise me that you're no good at Genjutsu." Remarked Neji's father, seeing his son's reaction and checking with his own Byakugan.

"Let me think… what else can I do… I'm very good with transformations, too… I could tell you how you're going to die… I can curse people, too! Wait, those I do with Fuuinjutsu…"

"M-Maybe y-you s-should be a s-shinobi." Hinata said. While not having hand to hand abilities at all was a problem, it was not one that could not be fixed. Her chakra reserves made her ideal to be a ninjutsu expert.

"If that is what my master asks, then that is what I will do! How do I become a shinobi?" She immediately asked, turning to face the Clan Head.

"Well, normally this would be a very lengthy process that requires years of attending the ninja academy. In your case, though, that part will be skipped entirely. All we really need to do is talk to the Hokage. He is a very understanding and intelligent man and I don't believe there would be a reason to doubt your loyalty."

Hizashi raised an eyebrow after hearing his brother's words. "Hm? You sound as if you know something that we don't, Hiashi." The younger twin stated.

"It is but a hunch. I will need to ask the Hokage himself. What say you we shoot down two birds with one stone and visit him right now?"

Naruto nodded. "Come on, dearest! I will be your partner from now until death parts us!" She spoke, grabbing Hinata's arms and lifting her to her feet. Hinata eeped and blushed as the girl pulled her out of the room and set out running in a random direction. "We'll see this Hokage guy and we'll get this sorted out in no time, you'll see!"

The other three Hyuuga raised one eyebrow and waited twenty seconds, and lo and behold, the blonde quickly returned. Hinata was panting, as if she'd just run a marathon, from trying to keep up with the rather exuberant and cheerful blonde.

"How do I get to meet this Hokage guy?" Asked Naruto, scratching the back of her neck in a manner that showed clear embarrassment.

"Follow me, Naruto-san. I will take you there myself." Hiashi said, with an air of finality that allowed no room for argument.

* * *

"Hiashi, I've told you a million times that you have to make an appointment. Sooner or later, the receptionist is not going to believe your claims of urgency and it will be like the Jockstrap incident all over again, except this time Inoichi won't be around to hide the evidence." Warned the blond Hokage, as he used his spinning chair to turn himself around, hearing the door open. He liked appearing cool like that.

"Oh, but I do believe I have something that might change your opinion about the urgency of this meeting, Hokage-sama." Hiashi spoke, taking a few steps forward, the hard heels of his shoes echoing in the rather Spartan office that Minato kept. He really had to put in curtains to kill that echo.

"Hm? You think?" Asked the blond, smirking to himself. Maybe it would be something utterly hilarious, like it usually was.

"This time, I'm sure." Hiashi said. "I've come because an individual recently came to me for the sponsorship necessary to become a shinobi, you see. She appears to be quite taken with my daughter and as such I am rather certain of her loyalty. Her power might not yet be at a desirable level, but that can be solved through hard work and we both know this."

"Indeed." Minato said, finally turning around. "Alright, then, did you bring… her… with… you…"

The Hokage's brain began to fail him. That hair… that particular shade of blond… it was not just blonde, it was what you would call golden. Those eyes. That exact same shade of blue that he saw each and every day in the mirror.

But what sealed the deal were the cute little marks on her cheeks. Tears filled his eyes, his throat became one big knot and he found himself incapable of breathing.

All he could do was try his darnedest to push out one single word out of the knot that was his throat.

"N-N-Naruto!?"


End file.
